Apparently absentee ballots are going out in early May this year, for the Open Primary election on June 5. Candidates are being bombarded with offers to promote themselves on slate mailers. But are these slate mailers a good idea?

Remember, about a third of the voters are now Decline to State, for the most part, or belong to third parties. The slate mailers do target these voters, but think for a moment about what slate mailers are. They are combo advertising featuring a number of candidates, all heaped onto a mailer.

Sometimes the slate mailers purport to represent some organization, but if you look closely you will see that the candidates often buy their way onto these slate mailers. Discerning voters surely aren’t swayed by that. Just look at the slate mailer atop this post, purporting to be for Democratic voters, but it touts a Republican Supervisorial candidate, Audra Strickland. Continue reading→